Botanical impressions from Göteborg

Lately I walked around in the Trädgårdsförening in Göteborg again. Mostly just for a walk through, sometimes to take a better look. It's always a beautiful place to be. There is always something to see, they make so nice flower beds, every time of year and they started some prairie style gardening. This time of the year a lot of roses where still flowering, they didn't plant the bulbs yet (will come soon). In the middle of all you will find the beautiful Victorian Greenhouses. I read it was started as a park in 1842 for the people who were living inside the City walls, for trading plants en seeds, to recreate and relax. Goteborg City is still the owner of the park. It is funny to see all the inhabitants see the worth and still spent a lot of time to recreate in this gardens, during lunchtime, weekends and music festivals.

This time I had enough time to visit the real Botanical Gardens (little more south). This is one of the biggest botanical gardens in Europe, around 175 ha total (including a nature reserve and arboretum). So you can walk out of the city into the nature within half an hour.  Only 40 ha is cultivated and includes very rare varieties. You will find a herb part, a tree collection, a formel garden, big greenhouses with exotic palmtrees and special bulbs. It was founded in 1923 for research, development, conservatory and education. A big area where you can make a big (you can walk via the backdoor in nature to Mölndal), a small walk (just make a round in the gardens) or have a coffee and something to eat outside with a beautiful view. You can take a look yourself, I made some pictures of the Botanical Garden. They are building new greenhouses I saw this time.

It's always nice to walk around there, in the middle of the city in an oase of flowers and fresh greens. It always gives my new inspiration and energy. But it's also a very nice feeling to go back to my own garden and enjoy the flowers. Like you can see, down here. The lime Annabelles are still there, accompanied by the Little Sedum "Pure Joy".

Most successful try out this year: Blomstermorot

Do you like to see more? About the Botanical in Göteborg? Take a look here. About Trädgårdsförening
or The Botanical Göteborg?  Gardenista? 

September feelings Sweden

Dew in the morning, over the land and the lake, delivering beautiful atmosphere. Mostly the sun can come through and it will be a beautiful day like in summer, some times not and it will stay foggy. Late flowers, all sorts of red berries, orange cantharel -if your are lucky- and leafs starting to color).  Typical moods of september in Småland Sweden. Last weeks we had beautiful sunny summer days.  When I can trust the forecast (not sure about it) it will be more like that next weeks, but no Indian Summer (Brittsommar) like we had once. 

It's very nice weather now to be outside. To work, to paint, work in the garden and have coffee sometimes. Only in the early morning and late afternoon it will be more cold soon. But it will take another six weeks before frost, at least. But you never know, so lets hope so. I need some jobs to be done before. I'm already busy with some of the september garden jobs this year: 

• This is the perfect time to devide plants. It very humid in the air and it's easy to increase your number of plants, some also need a change of place. Most easy is to take them out and split them.
• I've been pruning the black current plants . Taking out the old branches so there's air and space for new ones to grow now. On time to make a lot of new flowers and berries in spring. 
• I got some sawing advice, some plant sorts you can already saw in autumn. They can manage the winter they said. They need even the winter cold to germinate and will be more early next year. I bought some special sorts, like dark foxglove and pimpernel perennials. It need to be done this week. 
• End of September I'm expecting some new bulbs for spring, ordered with Goteborg Botaniska. 
• Make some new autumn decorations around the house, to have a nice look again. 

• Prepare "växtloppis" plants (plants to sell) for winter. Give dem extra space to grow in containers. Make some new cutting of Sedum for next year. 
• Fatten, cover or prune other plants. Take away the annuals. 
• Make changes in the robot lines if needed (I have extended the robot mowing surface, so less cutting for me) and repair some defects. 

• Last weeding all around the garden (quit a lot high weeds I can tell you 🙈)
• Hopefully I can fix the gravel path too before my hands are getting to could. We had more rain then last years, so the weeds have been growing faster as I could keep away the weeds. I'm very sad it's getting more and more green. 
• One of the last gras cuttings. Maybe one or two more times. As long as temperatures are above 7 degrees it will keep growing. Keep in mind that the last cuttings must not too short to give the gras strength and cover for the winter. 

Both last three ones keep me busy at least 3 days a week. So I decided the garden is big enough now. We have been cultivating wild parts in the back extra (within the 2500 square meters) this year because we had more sun, plans and plants. Of course it takes more time to maintain, but now it is enough to manage, so I need to make it more smart and easy now. 

Time to harvest

It's time to harvest now

Finally, after years of investment, it is time to harvest now. Not only the vegetables like the very tasty late potatoes "King Edwards" (you see above), nice apples (sorts Katja and Inge Marie) but also a lot of beautiful red tomatoes, beans, carrots and of course herbs. Fresh mint for the tea, chives and parsley without any pesticides. 

This is also the first year we can harvest the result of years of time investments, with little money and a lot of hard work. Of course it would be easy when you put in a lot of money, but still the plants need to grow by themselves. You can not make them grow quicker by pulling the leaves. It takes even longer when you start with very small cuttings. I brought about 150 plantcuttings from The Netherlands (because plants are soooo expensive here in Sweden) and I got some cuttings form Swedish friends.

So we needed to believe we would reach that moment one day and be patient. This year the plants got more body, filled up the space, started flowering more, the mentioned garden structure became more visible and the big jobs are done.

A big challenge to grow all these. Most difficult (and important) is the very sandy poor ground in Småland. In summertime it get's very dry quickly, you need to water extra to keep things alive beside of that the rain rinses away all nutrition easily. In a wet winter the waterlevel raises very high.

Last years we have been trying to create some drainage in the back of the garden, to get away water (when it is too much and the plants will be rotten).

At the other side we tried to fertilize the ground by carrying lot of compost everywhere or to water with fertilizer and we mulched (covered) the ground with green compost like leafs to appear drying out.  

Typical prairie plant: Red Pimpernel

Also we selected plants for special areas. In the driest parts we like the native ones (plant families who have been growing there naturally for a long time). We replenish with prairie plants, they are "tough guys" and love dry sunny circumstances while they normally grow in prairie landscapes. (I wil write about them later. The Sails and Willow trees like to have a lot of water and don't mind getting wet feet in wintertime (while prairie plants would die). 

I'm happy to see we are coming somewhere now. Now it is time to enjoy it, to look back, select new plants to sow or plant and order in wintertime. Next year will be even better 👍 

Sjöbygget Garden with a view

New experiences in the Swedish garden

 

After a very hot start of summer in June and July, it changed in August. Like the rest of Europe had before, now heavy rains and thunderstorms in Sweden. All this water made the garden plants grow spectacular fast, like it never did before. (At least not in the last 5 years have been living here.) Only problem is that the weeds exploded too!

My herb garden

The new herb garden, which i started in May is fully grown now. It's looking good and very successful,  hopefully I can extend it a little more with some extra plants next year.

Since they have been cutting a lot of trees in my backyard in spring, we have got so much more light, even in our house in the late afternoon or evening. The dark high wall in the back is totally gone, that will be a big difference in wintertime. We are still very happy about it.

Spontaneous grow... Devils Trumpet (Datura)

We found some surprises too in the backyard. The big trees dissapeared and suddenly new plants appeared... The seeds were saved in the bottom for some years and got the possibility now to grow. Suddenly we have spontaneous a very big beautiful white Devils Trumpet (Datura) decorating our garden 😉. (By the way, don't eat anything of the plant, it's a very poisonous one...)

After some time the garden and the plants will be more and more grown, hopefully it takes less time to take out the weeds. Before that it will take extra time to fertilize the soil with compost, to keep the moist a little longer, because it's still very poor. Though we have been putting in a lot.

When you look back, we already achieved a lot. We started with nothing, only weeds, a lot of trees and high grass and no borders at all. Now we have a lot of borders, filled with flowers from spring til autumn, some fruittrees and berries, a path around the house and a fenced garden.

When you are curious what it looked like when we bought this property? Feel free to take a look!

Celebrating Swedish summertimes

Photo: Pixabay

Summer times when the living is easy... Just enjoy! very day we wake up the sun is there, mostly it is already warm. Even in the north of Sweden (Lapland) it has been over 30 degrees for weeks....We worry about it but don't try to think to much about it, because we cannot change this on our own, we can only take our part.

Sometimes it is a little cloudy for some minutes. Already for weeks. As you have been reading in the last post the weather was too hard to work in the garden. Not only the heat (always above 26 at least) but more the horseflies attacking you the whole time. They developed very well due to the high humidity last weeks. We decided to slow down. Celebrate sun and summer before it's dark and lonely again. Just enjoy what's coming up. So now we stopped working and started sleeping in the afternoon, having dinner evening time outside with friends and we decided to travel again (because soccer finally started after the Corona restrictions and we got our second vaccination 😀). Of course we still need to to be careful and take care of the rules in Sweden. But it is never very crowded or close and every one is taking care till now... maybe because it is holiday time? We will see, have a nice summer time too (and don't think it is always cold in Sweden anymore)... Enjoy!

Photo: Pixabay

Summertimes in the Stegaryd Sjöbygget Garden

 

Queen of sun and sand - Jasione

When your are driving somewhere this summertime (in Europe), just have a look beside of the road. Sometimes you can see something shining light grey glow blue beside of the road. Good chance you will find the small flower Jasione, the Queen of sun and sand. In Dutch it's called Sandyblue. No matter how sunny, warm and sandy her place is: she will always flower anyway. Then you know it's summertime 😄.

Normally in summertime you will have less jobs to do in the garden, only some maintaining like cutting the gras and keeping weeds way. Unless you have a summer like this. It has been very warm for weeks already (20-30 degrees) and we have short big showers so the humidity is very high (about 75% right now). It feels like we are living in Indonesia... not Sweden with normally very dry and stabile atmosphere. I have been cutting the grass last week for some hours, it was horrible. I almost got cooked with some proteins of horseflies. So the weeds are growing even faster and we meet a lot of biting insects...

From beginning of June the temperatures were very high. Always above 25, some weeks 35 degrees with full sun 🌞 and strong blue skies. And it is still going on. While the rest of Europe is struggling with thunderstorms ⛈ and water problems we face the 🔥 risk (till now it is ok). It’s amazing and exhausting at the same time. Very nice when you are celebrating holidays, floating in a matras on the lake, dreaming away every day and not having and deadline. 

It’s less nice when you want to prepare the garden to open again end of July. While the fysik working you will get very sweaty 🥵 and uncomfortable. It needs to be done to keep the weeds away (or overgrown your garden), to water 🚿 the plants frequently special now to get the big garden (2500 m2) in best shape. We tried to work early and late on the day but met another problem. Because of the extreme high humidity the number of horseflies totally collapsed. When the midgets were gone the horseflies came. The last ones cause really big and painful bites. Not funny. So it is really impossible to work outside now, without damage. The only thing you will do is chasing away those flies from your body without finishing your job 🤬. In the end we decided to give up, we will forward the event. And we decided to enjoy 😊 the summer weather for a while. The only thing we needed to fix, is to harvest and pick the black currants, they will not wait for better weather, they are ready now. 

So when you are looking for news we are busy to take a swim in the lake nearby, to read a book in the shadow and meet friends outdoors. Happy summertime to all of you 😎. 

I saw we have been here before some time ago, only less wet and no open garden planned yet... do you want to know? Read this story : Summer heat in Småland Sweden

Open garden - öppen trädgård Stegaryd Sjöbyyget Gamla Skola

Every one is welcome to see our new created garden. We have been working in it from 2015 to rediscover. It is our dream to open up a showgarden with grandma's plants and a typical Swedish trädgardskafe. It will be some later, because of Corona, but we came so far yet. So we are very happy to show the result of hard working in the old garden till now. Beside of that, we try to fint out in the old archives about the old school days. We have been looking for old pictures and renovating pictures. When some one knows about former days? We like to hear your stories or to see the pictures.

We like to invite all interested people. We want to Open our garden this year already for a sneak preview, despite of Corona (it is a pity the Swedish Land open garden 15-7 was cancelled). All of this is outside, no problem when we clean our hands and keep some distance, or? 

Of course we will sell some coffee, tea and home baked cakes to have a nice fika somewhere outside in our garden. Everything is arranged till now, hopefully it will be nice (=dry) weather too!

We are prepared, are you ready to come and visit us? You will find us outside of Vittaryd on the way to Skällandsö (Bolmen). Hope to seen you soon!

Do you want to know about last years special (Swedish Tusen Trädgården) Open Garden, you can find more here Tusen Tradgarder 2021.

Bzzzz Buzzy busy times in the Swedish garden

 

It is buzzing all around me, lots of bees looking for new flowers.... very happy with our big wild cherry tree flowering. All wild animals are busy, all birdhouses are already booked, the red squirrel is running through the garden without even seeing us and the hare was too busy to prepare a solid nest for the small ones (so we gave her a little help outside our garden).

And we are very busy too.... there is a lot to do in the garden now, nature isn't waiting. It just goes on, like in normal life 😉. We fixed the fence around our garden (so we hope there will be less visits of hare and deer eating our flowers we worked very hard for), we made a southfacing herb garden, started a sunny fruitcorner, we have been digging, mixing and spreading compost in big parts of the garden, we restored the hedge (where some beech trees died in wintertime) and sawed and planted some greenery and summer flowers.

Because lots of rain through out the days last weeks, you can see thousand colors of fresh green 💚. As you know, green of nature around you give lot's of positivity and energy.

The result is also there is less time left to work outside, there is a swimmingpool on the grass (so we have problems to cut the grass) and everything is growing even faster. Even the weeds, they are growing so fast it's hard to manage (in less time outside) when your garden is 2500 m2. At the same time, I have to admit, it feels very good and healthy to keep busy outside (while being at home that much together with the two of us for months due to Corona), no need for the gym and the greens around us give lots of energy 💚.

And we have to hurry now, only few days of higher temperature next week and it will be also busy with midgets or knots, because it has been so wet till now. It will be impossible to be outside without being eaten, so we try to do as much as possible now when it's not raining. 

After one nice week with good temperature (half of May), temperatures went down again (average only 13 degrees). So nature is still little behind with flowering, only four weeks before Midsommar (the longest day of the year, after this days will shorten again till Christmas 😏). At the other side it's very good weather to recreate your gardendesign and replant some plants without spending hours for of watering.

Still I hope summer will start soon, we are longing for some sun and warmth after a long Corona year, with so much restrictions and without any traveling . I just took a quick look for next week, I saw some sun, higher temperatures and no raindrops anymore, let's hope 🙏

Work in progress spring projects outside

Yes, spring arrived in Sweden too! All of a sudden it's very sunny and 18 degrees....and in 2 days it became very green... I'm very happy my "Kungsängliljor" (Kievitsbloemen or Fritilaria Meleagris), the white and the black ones, are doing so well, this year (and they haven't been eaten (yet). They are lucky, they like to have wet feet 😂.

But what a crazy weather. Last week it was still frosty in the night, so I had to cover my small tiny plants (which got outside already) and new grown tomatoes every night. Yes, I know it's possible before the Icesaints come. But I was very lucky I didn't put out all my young plants yet. I was looking at the weather forecast daily 😬 and little stressed because they were inside too long. And I wanted to move forward of course, to be ready the end of May. For the first time I lost also several plants this winter, outside in the garden (my lovely Dutch red berries...) as well inside in the barn where I put them for wintertime (the Canna I found in my fathers garden 😢,) it became too cold. 

After the cutting down a lot of trees in the woods in our backyard, we needed to repair the lawn. Now it's planting time too. We chose some trees and bushes: a beautiful special and hardy oak (Quercus Rubus), a Flowering Cherry (Prunus Sagentii) with nice autumn colors and an Acer Japonica among other things. They were planted and started growing already. They had also little damage because of the late frost but now they are very happy on their new place and with al the rain they got later on😂

Meanwhile we try to get rid of the old Syringa, with the entrance. A very heavy job for us, getting a little older. So we try to fix very little parts each time we are working outside, bit by bit, but it is a tough guy 💪. We have been digging in our compost side to build a new one, we opened up the first one we made to use the ground which already is digested to new compost (from all weeds we took there from the start). We found already some older places where the old lady already made her compost, we use it and it is super ground with nutrition and moist to grow new plants with.

We were also very creative (to use old stuff in a new way): we planted an old rusty stairway (used for the chimney sweeper in former days), now it will be the Clematis Climber. An eyecatcher in our garden coming years!

We have been creating a new garden for some years now. At first we had to recover the old garden again because it was overgrown for some years. Of course we need to maintaine now as well. But now we are more and more creating something. It will be a mixed design of Grandma's Garden plants with a touch of Piet Oudolf natural garden (have a look at my Garden Dreams some time ago). It takes a lot of time but it makes us so happy, working, taking care of something and creating something new. Maybe one day...

Already a long time I have been dreaming about a sort of visiting garden, maybe just for people who are interested in gardening. It is very Swedish to have a coffee or tea with small cakes enjoying nature in a  small outside gardencafe (trädgårdscafe). Now we have the opportunity, a beautiful natural flowering garden (even it is work in progress) in the middle of Smålands nature close to a lake. Only Corona is responsible for some delay.. and the weather shows it is an unreliable partner too. The garden is not ready after winter to show yet.

PS We have a sort of try out to protect our new plants, just coming out of the earth after winter against the deers... we put some blinking CD's in the trees... in the dusk it's like "dangerous" animal eyes, they scare them away.... we hope 🙏 But we are not sure, maybe it also scares the birds? We will see, to be continued...

Time for sowing and growing

Finally, nearly spring... a little late this year. Inside I have been busy already. I bought some special plants at the Botanical Garden in Göteborg. They have been inside for some weeks now and started growing very well. They need to go out soon. But they need to get used to the lower temperatures first.So they will move downstairs to the hall and get outside daytime, to get used to it. After a week they will be planted outside.  

I have been very busy sowing in a very small but sufficient greenhouse in my room upstairs. The plants are doing very well also. They have beautiful names in English, such as: Grandma's Sweethearts, Peony Poppies, Limegreen Tobacco plants, Aster and Hollyhocks. But for now they have to wait a little more... because it has been snowing this morning, again 😟

But after this, it will be busy times in the garden. Like it is every year. Except we didn't have the sow the new grass anymore like we had to, last year. Don't you remember?